The Keta Municipal Assembly, through its Environmental Health and Sanitation Unit, organized a food hygiene and safety education programme for food vendors at Keta Senior High Technical School on April 11, 2025. The initiative aimed to equip vendors with essential knowledge and practical skills to improve food safety and hygiene, ensuring the delivery of safe and wholesome meals to the school community.
The programme also served as a valuable field exercise for eight students on practical attachment, who assisted in logistics, demonstrations, and observations.
The key objectives of the session were to raise awareness on food hygiene, enhance safe food handling practices, reduce food-borne illnesses, and promote personal hygiene and environmental sanitation. Participants included 18 food vendors, four Environmental Health Officers, representatives of the school administration, and members of the School Health Committee.
Training topics covered personal hygiene, safe food preparation, environmental sanitation, prevention of cross-contamination, food-borne diseases, protective equipment usage, and basic first aid procedures. The session employed lectures, demonstrations on proper hand-washing techniques, interactive discussions, and vendor participation in problem-solving scenarios.
Vendors actively engaged in discussions, asked relevant questions, and demonstrated improved understanding of hygiene practices. Plans were proposed to introduce regular inspections and follow-up training sessions. Students gained valuable hands-on experience in public health education.
Following the training, a meeting was held with the Senior House Father, Senior House Mistress, and Head of Welfare to discuss follow-up actions. Authorities commended the initiative and pledged support for continuous monitoring to maintain high hygiene standards.
Key challenges included late arrival of some participants, insufficient protective equipment, lack of proper handwashing facilities and sanitary infrastructure, non-compliance with dress codes, poor vending shed conditions, indiscriminate wastewater disposal, and little involvement from SHEP coordinators.
The Environmental Health Unit recommended regular refresher training, provision of hygiene kits (gloves, aprons, hairnets), installation of handwashing stations, construction of toilets and urinals, strict enforcement of hygienic dress codes, rehabilitation of vending sheds, and improved wastewater management systems. Greater involvement of SHEP coordinators, regular cleaning schedules, and provision of fly-proof food covers were also advised.
The session was successfully executed and met its objectives of improving vendor awareness and strengthening food safety measures in the school. The Assembly emphasized that sustained education, collaboration, and supervision are crucial to ensuring safer meals for students and staff.
